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Sony is moving from Memory Stick to CF? - here's the theory and weak evidence

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Evan Scheessele

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Reposted in this forum. Anyone seen Sony's newest Clie?

Could Sony be transitioning to Compact Flash? I think it's a real posibility. As a happy f505 owner, and an owner of a several Memory Sticks, I can appreciate how this theory might put a lot of Sony digicam owners into a new mindset. (In the spirit of openness, I happen to also own a Canon Powershot G3.) No trolling here, just a theory based on an observation.

Anyway, here's the evidence:

Sony's newest Palm OS-based handheld has a CF slot. Really. It's not advertised as such, but it clearly is there. Also, there's still a Memory Stick slot.

Take a look at the new Color Clie NX70V. The Sonystyle.com site has links to product information but is impossible to link deeply into. On the front page the NX70V is prominently displayed. (This is ony heck of a cool PDA, bt the way.) Notice plenty of pointers to the Wireless LAN Slot. Click on accessories and scroll down to the Clie Wireless LAN Card. Take a good look at that card. Read its label in the picture ("Wireless LAN CF Card"). This is not a Sony manufactured product - I own a Symbol Technologies Inc. 'Wireless NetWorker' 802.11b CF Type 1 card for my HP Jornada. The Sony Clie Wireless LAN Card is an exact match besides the stickers/labeling. Shape, plastic contours, LED, everything. It's a CF card.

So... Sony has a working CF slot in one of their highend PDAs. I have no idea how much CF integration they put into the Clie to support the card, (perhaps only enough for networking) but it's still a notable precident. It might mean nothing about Sony's position on Memory Stick and their roadmaps. It certainly doesn't make sense to think this is big news... It would certainly make sense to me as a way to put 802.11b into the Clie quickly and cheeply.

There you go. Thoughts?

Evan
 
I doubt that they are going to be moving their camera line to the compact flash format. The primary reason for including in the clie is that they needed to give it some wireless connectivity quick to make it competetive and their are no 802.11 memory stick options available at this time if ever. Additionally it adds a second slot. The new clies are going to require their memory stick slots for extra memory considering they are multimedia oriented and noone would like the idea of compromising between memory and wireless.

Granted, I do hope they come up with something soon. The 128mb memory stick limit is really crippling their current cameras like the 717.
 
Evan Scheessele,

While Memory Stick was in development, they used Compact Flash on some early digicams. I think their new stuff will support both, similar to Olympus supporting Compact Flash and Smart Media on the same system.

They also have SanDisk, co-creator of the Compact Flash standard in their camp to work on developing the next generations of Memory Stick. We all know it should have been done by now, but there are more similarites than differences between the 2 formats.

I predict that Memory Stick will be related to Compact Flash in the same way that iLink is related to FireWire (essentially Firewire without supplied power, 4-pin as opposed to 6-pin).
--
S70 still
TRV730 video
transport GX+ mobile workstation
 
Evan Scheessele said:
Reposted in this forum. Anyone seen Sony's newest Clie?

Could Sony be transitioning to Compact Flash? I think it's a real
posibility. As a happy f505 owner, and an owner of a several Memory
Sticks, I can appreciate how this theory might put a lot of Sony
digicam owners into a new mindset. (In the spirit of openness, I
happen to also own a Canon Powershot G3.) No trolling here, just a
theory based on an observation.

Anyway, here's the evidence:

Sony's newest Palm OS-based handheld has a CF slot. Really. It's
not advertised as such, but it clearly is there. Also, there's
still a Memory Stick slot.

Take a look at the new Color Clie NX70V. The Sonystyle.com site has
links to product information but is impossible to link deeply into.
On the front page the NX70V is prominently displayed. (This is ony
heck of a cool PDA, bt the way.) Notice plenty of pointers to the
Wireless LAN Slot. Click on accessories and scroll down to the Clie
Wireless LAN Card. Take a good look at that card. Read its label in
the picture ("Wireless LAN CF Card"). This is not a Sony
manufactured product - I own a Symbol Technologies Inc. 'Wireless
NetWorker' 802.11b CF Type 1 card for my HP Jornada. The Sony Clie
Wireless LAN Card is an exact match besides the stickers/labeling.
Shape, plastic contours, LED, everything. It's a CF card.

So... Sony has a working CF slot in one of their highend PDAs. I
have no idea how much CF integration they put into the Clie to
support the card, (perhaps only enough for networking) but it's
still a notable precident. It might mean nothing about Sony's
position on Memory Stick and their roadmaps. It certainly doesn't
make sense to think this is big news... It would certainly make
sense to me as a way to put 802.11b into the Clie quickly and
cheeply.

There you go. Thoughts?

Evan
Click to expand...
--

It IS a CF card slot but if you will read carefully it is ONLY compatable with Sony's wireless lan card. SOny is stuck on the stick which I have avoided. I do like their new 717 digital camera but not enough to leave Cf cards.

Greg Gebhardt D1, D1x, CP5000, CP5700, Epson 2200 & PS7
Jacksonville, Florida
 
Greg Gebhardt said:
Evan Scheessele said:
Reposted in this forum. Anyone seen Sony's newest Clie?

Could Sony be transitioning to Compact Flash? I think it's a real
posibility. As a happy f505 owner, and an owner of a several Memory
Sticks, I can appreciate how this theory might put a lot of Sony
digicam owners into a new mindset. (In the spirit of openness, I
happen to also own a Canon Powershot G3.) No trolling here, just a
theory based on an observation.

Anyway, here's the evidence:

Sony's newest Palm OS-based handheld has a CF slot. Really. It's
not advertised as such, but it clearly is there. Also, there's
still a Memory Stick slot.

Take a look at the new Color Clie NX70V. The Sonystyle.com site has
links to product information but is impossible to link deeply into.
On the front page the NX70V is prominently displayed. (This is ony
heck of a cool PDA, bt the way.) Notice plenty of pointers to the
Wireless LAN Slot. Click on accessories and scroll down to the Clie
Wireless LAN Card. Take a good look at that card. Read its label in
the picture ("Wireless LAN CF Card"). This is not a Sony
manufactured product - I own a Symbol Technologies Inc. 'Wireless
NetWorker' 802.11b CF Type 1 card for my HP Jornada. The Sony Clie
Wireless LAN Card is an exact match besides the stickers/labeling.
Shape, plastic contours, LED, everything. It's a CF card.

So... Sony has a working CF slot in one of their highend PDAs. I
have no idea how much CF integration they put into the Clie to
support the card, (perhaps only enough for networking) but it's
still a notable precident. It might mean nothing about Sony's
position on Memory Stick and their roadmaps. It certainly doesn't
make sense to think this is big news... It would certainly make
sense to me as a way to put 802.11b into the Clie quickly and
cheeply.

There you go. Thoughts?

Evan
Click to expand...
--
It IS a CF card slot but if you will read carefully it is ONLY
compatable with Sony's wireless lan card. SOny is stuck on the
stick which I have avoided. I do like their new 717 digital camera
but not enough to leave Cf cards.

Greg Gebhardt D1, D1x, CP5000, CP5700, Epson 2200 & PS7
Jacksonville, Florida
Click to expand...
--I also backed away from SONY because of memory stick!
Being in the computer field I leared along time ago to stay clear of
proprietary hardware or software, You always pay more and eventually
get left with inferior goods!

Jim Venner
Each photo is a Moment in time, Never to be repeated!
http://www.pbase.com/jimven/galleries
 
Jim Venner said:
--I also backed away from SONY because of memory stick!
Being in the computer field I leared along time ago to stay clear of
proprietary hardware or software, You always pay more and eventually
get left with inferior goods!

Jim Venner
Each photo is a Moment in time, Never to be repeated!
http://www.pbase.com/jimven/galleries
Click to expand...
--

DOn't get me wrong, I have even lusted for the 717, it a great camera. If they slapped a CF drive next to the stick thingie, I just might bite.

Greg Gebhardt D1, D1x, CP5000, CP5700, Epson 2200 & PS7
Jacksonville, Florida
 
Sony's goals go further than digital photography. Like Microsoft they want it all. Sony owns a good part of the world's music rights. Use of the memory stick and follow-ons will prohibit ripping your own CDs without paying for an additional use license. They bait the hook with good equipment with many many features. The problem is, underneath the "bait" there still is a hook...a Sony hook.

The only thing they learned from Beta is to try even harder and spend more money "buying in" to a market before they tighten the noose.

Rich
Greg Gebhardt said:
Greg Gebhardt said:
--I also backed away from SONY because of memory stick!
Being in the computer field I leared along time ago to stay clear of
proprietary hardware or software, You always pay more and eventually
get left with inferior goods!

Jim Venner
Each photo is a Moment in time, Never to be repeated!
http://www.pbase.com/jimven/galleries
Click to expand...
--
DOn't get me wrong, I have even lusted for the 717, it a great
camera. If they slapped a CF drive next to the stick thingie, I
just might bite.

Greg Gebhardt D1, D1x, CP5000, CP5700, Epson 2200 & PS7
Jacksonville, Florida
Click to expand...
 
Someone on the Sony forum said they've been told that Sony will announce a 512MB MemoryStick next week. If true, it would blow any theory about MS demise into smithereens. We shall see.

Rodger
 
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